Tag: make a difference

Happy Mother’s Day! Today, in celebration of all mothers who impacted our lives, we’re sharing another story from our series: 15 stories for the 15th Anniversary!

WINGS’ mobile clinics travel to remote areas of Guatemala, where access to health services is extremely limited. During the clinics, we provide contraceptive methods, cervical cancer screenings and cryotherapy treatment. In many Guatemalan communities, family planning or anything related to reproductive health is still much stigmatized, so it takes courage for women from these villages to go to our clinics. We have met strong women who have overcome many struggles, as is the case with Ana Maria.

25-year-old Ana Maria was born in Nicaragua. Both her parents died when she was a child, and without family or opportunities, she came to Guatemala, told by a prospective employer he would provide her steady work and a place to live. At just 14, Ana Maria was sold into the sex slave industry, and obligated to pay off her travel and housing debts. After 3 months living a nightmare, Ana Maria managed to escape with the help of a friend, now her husband.

A few years later, Ana Maria went to a WINGS talk about family planning and cervical cancer. The risk factors for cervical cancer really concerned her, considering her past. Ana Maria wanted to undergo a screening, but worried about the cost; her husband works on a banana plantation and some months they barely have enough money to feed their 3 children. WINGS nurse Alejandra heard Ana Maria’s concerns, and offered to waive the fee for the screening. Unfortunately, Ana Maria’s screening results came out positive for pre-cancerous cells. WINGS’ staff provided Ana Maria with immediate cryotherapy treatment that day, to prevent precancerous lesions progressing to cervical cancer. With tears running down her face, Ana Maria said:“I could never afford this treatment. Sometimes we don’t even have enough to eat. I thank God that there are organizations providing services to the poorest people.”

Ana Maria’s three children and her husband were also very grateful to WINGS. The children are still very young, and with their father busy working at the plantation during the day, Ana Maria is their main caretaker. Thanks to the cervical cancer screening and treatment, Ana Maria got the opportunity to be with her three children and see them grow up.

Women listening to WINGS’ talk about cervical cancer

Ana Maria was very lucky. WINGS provided her with cervical cancer screening and cryotherapy treatment in time and she avoided developing cervical cancer. But what happens to all the women living in remote, rural area of Guatemala where access to health services is almost nonexistent? In many cases, these women have never attended a talk about cervical cancer and they don’t even realize they may be at risk. As a result, they do not get screened and there is a higher chance for cervical cancer to develop. If caught early, cervical cancer is highly preventable and treatable. It should not be the number one cause of cancer-related deaths in Guatemalan women.

This is where we are asking you to step in. We are aiming to screen almost 4,000 women for cervical cancer this year and you can help us make this happen. Join our Mother’s Day campaign today and make a donation to WINGS in the name of the mother you wish to honor. We will send you a beautiful personalized card for her, explaining the impact her Mother’s Day gift is making. Help us save lives!

When we think of adolescence, we tend to associate it with a period of discovery and change: growing closer to certain friends, becoming interested in different hobbies, hitting puberty, and transitioning from childhood to adulthood. In Guatemala however, the reality for many teenage girls is sadly very different. Due to lack of sexual education, sociocultural norms, and limited access to birth control, 22% of girls in Guatemala give birth before the age of 18, forcing them into adulthood too quickly. Guatemala has one of the highest teenage pregnancy rates in Latin America and the Caribbean and is the only country in Central America where teenage pregnancy is actually on the rise.

Through its Youth Program, WINGS seeks to prevent teenage pregnancies in Guatemala and enable girls and boys to decide about their health and futures. Our program combines youth led sexual education with free sexual and reproductive health services in remote communities.

In a recent mobile clinic in San Francisco Zapotitlán, on the country’s Pacific coast, we met 21-year-old Fabiola.

Born in San Francisco Zapotitlán, Fabiola is one of seven siblings. Her mother sold vegetables and fruit in the local market to provide for her children. While her mother was working, Fabiola was in charge of the house, taking care of her younger brothers and sisters, despite being a child herself. As in many Guatemalan families, nobody ever told Fabiola about birth control. When she was 18, Fabiola had her first child. She struggled because on top of looking out for her younger siblings, she now had her own baby to take care of. At 19, Fabiola had her second child. Today, Fabiola is 21 years old and has three children. Raising her three children has not been easy: “Being a mother is a beautiful thing, but sometimes I feel like I can barely manage. I can’t afford to provide my children with everything I’d like to give them, and when they get sick, I can’t sleep because I’m worried about their well-being”.

Days before the mobile clinic, our Field Supervisor Mylin visited women in San Francisco Zapotitlán to talk about their family planning options and encourage them to attend our mobile clinic. Although Fabiola showed up, she was very scared about using birth control. In San Francisco as in many Guatemalan communities, birth control is highly stigmatized. While she was afraid that her community would judge her, Fabiola knew that she could not afford to have more children. After discussing which contraceptive options we could offer her, Fabiola chose the subdermal hormonal implant, which provides up to 5 years of protection. Fabiola said she is grateful to WINGS because now she does not have to worry about becoming pregnant again and she is ready to dedicate all her time to raising her three boys. “WINGS is one of the few organizations that has reached out to women in my community. Many of us do not have enough money to go to a big hospital and pay for expensive services. Once I told the nurses I did not have enough money for the implant, they gave it to me for free!”

Young mothers at WINGS’ clinic

During the mobile clinic, we also met Berta, a 19-year-old girl who carried her 10-month-old baby in her arms. Berta too had never learned about birth control – not even in school where teachers are legally required to provide sexual education. When Berta was 5 years old, her mother passed away. She was raised by her aunts and her father. Her family is very religious, and she was not allowed to ask any questions related to sexuality. She was very surprised when she got pregnant, as was all her family. A friend of her late mother told Berta about the mobile clinic, so Berta came in to get a subdermal hormonal implant. Berta may want to have one other child in the future, but she is happy that she now gets to choose when she is ready for that.

Berta, 19, with her 10-month-old son

When asked whether she was excited about Mother’s Day, Berta’s face lit up and a huge smile spread across her face. “Yes! You know, once my own mother died, I lost all hope of ever being able to say ‘Happy Mother’s Day’ again. But now, for the first time in my life, people will be saying that to me. Even though I didn’t plan to be a mother this early, I love my son and I want to be the best mother in the world for him.”

18-year-old mother Isabela breastfeeds her 1-year-old son Andy at one of WINGS’ mobile clinics

This Mother’s Day, you can support women like Fabiola and Berta by donating to WINGS.Give a meaningful gift to a special mom today and save lives!

In Guatemala, cervical cancer is the number one cause of cancer-related deaths among Guatemalan women. While the disease is preventable and highly treatable if detected early, in countries like Guatemala where healthcare is largely inaccessible, it’s a grim story.

Inadequate health centers, lack of knowledge, and geographic barriers make it difficult for women to get screened for cervical cancer in Guatemala. Ten years ago, WINGS developed its Cervical Cancer Prevention Program to overcome these challenges by providing visual inspection with acetic acid and immediate cryotherapy treatment for pre-cancerous cells. We continue to offer these life-saving services in stationary clinics in Sololá, Cobán and Antigua, and through our mobile clinics, which travel to the most remote areas of the country to reach underserved women. We have provided lifesaving services to improve the lives of thousands of women in Guatemala,even within our own team!

41 year old WINGS’ Nurse Rosy was born in a rural community in San Cristobal, located in northern Guatemala. Rosy travels every month with our mobile team to provide family planning information and contraceptives to the most remote areas of the country.

Like many of the girls and women we serve, Rosy has faced many challenges in her life. When she was only 15 years old, her family forced her to marry a man who turned out to be abusive. Sadly, in Guatemala it is very common for young girls to be married off without their consent. Rosy suffered through her marriage because, similar to many women in her situation, she didn’t have a say in any decisions. Although Rosy was finally able to separate from her husband, the difficulties persisted. As a single mother, Rosy had to figure out how to make ends meet so she could feed her four children and send them to school. Luckily, her former father-in-law was very supportive and encouraged her to go back to school.

Rosy and her family had never received any information about reproductive health and prior to resuming her studies, she knew very little about her own health in general. As a child, she lost her mom and aunt to cervical cancer. Neither had ever been screened and Rosy was terrified that the she would face the same health burden.

However, as an Assistant Nurse providing these important services throughout Northern Guatemala, Rosy decided to undergo a screening with our team. Unfortunately, our staff discovered abnormal cell growth which could lead to cancer, but our team treated Rosy immediately.

As Rosy shared with our team that day, “I am truly grateful to WINGS for supporting me and allowing me to keep being a mother to my children. I now have my nursing diploma and I am so proud to be able to help people who need it. I am thankful for the opportunity to work with WINGS; I love every part of my job. I give educational talks to different communities in my native Mayan language; I provide different birth control methods; and I screen women to help prevent cervical cancer. This work is so important and I hope that I can keep doing it forever.”

Like Rosy’s aunt and mother, there are thousands of women in Guatemala who do not know about the causes of cervical cancer and how to prevent it. WINGS has worked endlessly to change this and provide information and reproductive health services to Guatemalan women in need. In 2015, we surpassed ourcervical cancer screening projection by 141%, ensuring that 3,062 women were able to undergo preventive screenings. And in the first three months of 2016 alone, we have already provided 496 cervical cancer screenings. Moving forward, we will continue providing these imperative services, thanks to your unwavering support.

For World Humanitarian Day 2015, WINGS is celebrating one of our dedicated team members. A true humanitarian who provides reproductive health education to thousands of youth, women, and men in some of the most underserved communities in Guatemala, and never loses her enthusiasm and motivation! We don’t know what we’d do without her and we know that countless families throughout Guatemala feel the same.

Meet Ana Lucia…

How did you start working with WINGS?

I started volunteering with WINGS in 2007 after having participated in a reproductive health workshop. I was so inspired by what I learned that I joined WINGS to teach other young people about sexual and reproductive health. I accepted a formal position as a Youth Educator in 2011 and since 2013, I have supervised our promoter network as a Family Planning Educator.

Tell us about the work of WINGS in Guatemala.

WINGS works to improve the lives of Guatemalan families through sexual and reproductive health education and services. We strive to reach the most remote and underserved areas, helping women decide on the number of children they want and giving them the tools to space pregnancies, with the goals of alleviating poverty and reducing maternal and infant mortality.

What are the biggest challenges facing Guatemala with regards to reproductive health?

Sexual health is still a taboo here: religion is barrier to accessing services and the education system does not help – reproductive health and family planning are not given enough attention within the education system.

What do you enjoy most about working for WINGS?

I love seeing a woman leave our clinics with the contraceptive method of her choice. It might seem like a small thing, but behind her ability to choose is a lot of effort. Our team provides information and education across the country, enabling women to make informed decisions about their own bodies; we raise funds so that we can buy and provide subsidized contraception; we work with municipal leaders and decision makers to organize numerous clinics in the communities and our team of nurses, educators, drivers, and volunteers provide their services to make these clinics a reality.

When I see women happily leaving our clinics , knowing that they can now take control of their lives and give their families a better future, this makes me really happy and proud of the work we’re doing.

And the most important part of your job…

Helping Guatemalan women. I love visiting communities, understanding the needs of women living there and then being able to help them to improve their lives through family planning. I think the most important part of my work is understanding that women have the right to freely decide if/how many children they want to have and then ensuring that they are able to make their own decisions about their reproductive health.

Why are the reproductive health services that WINGS provides so important in Guatemala?

They are important because women are dying. They are dying because they are having many children, they are not spacing their pregnancies, and have very limited access to health services. It is crucial that we continue to provide education and services and work towards a better Guatemala and a better life for future generations.

Do YOU have a question for Ana Lucía? Just ask in a comment, she will be very happy to respond!

To help Ana Lucía and WINGS reach more underserved women, men and youth and provide reproductive health education and services, please make sure you spread the word about our work with your friends and family.

And with this update, we would like to share a different but important picture of what motherhood looks like in Guatemala with the story of this young man we had the pleasure to meet during a 3-day workshop for 150 WINGS Youth Leaders last month in Cobán, Alta Verapaz, Guatemala.

While participants of the workshop discussed gender roles and social norms, 19-year-old Anilson caught our attention: his duties at home are those traditionally assigned to women in Guatemala – cooking, cleaning, and taking care of the children. He explained that his mother passed away 6 months ago, leaving Anilson to help his father and take care of his younger siblings. We had a chance to talk to Anilson after the workshop and he shared his story with us. more